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(2) John’s fascination with aviation could be traced to moments like this, when he and his mother watched as Daddy’s helicopter took off from the South Lawn in 1962.

(3) Later that year in Palm Beach, John and Caroline, dressed up as angels for the local Christmas pageant, cozied up to Mom in front of the fireplace.

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(5) White House Pals: “Is there a rabbit in there?” JFK asked when John hid beneath his desk.

(6) As JFK’s friend Paul “Red” Fay looked on the president reacted in mock surprise to one of John’s many shared secrets.

(7) John tagged along when the president headed out for a round of golf at Hyannis Port in August 1963.

(8) Daddy offered John candy as they strolled along the West Wing Colonnade in early October 1963.

(9) John was clearly amused by something when he and his mother arrived at church near their weekend home in Middleburg, Virginia, on October 23, 1963—less than a month before Dallas.

(10) As JFK’s casket passed by, Jackie bent down and told John to say goodbye to Daddy—with history’s most famous salute.

(11) In June 1964, John and his mom walked hand in hand up the front steps of their new home in Georgetown.

(12) Besieged by photographers and tourists, Jackie grabbed the kids and fled to New York. At the New York World’s Fair in 1965, John met Mickey Mouse.

(13) A month later, Uncles Bobby and Teddy looked on as John met two more icons—Queen Elizabeth and an English bobby—at the dedication of his father’s memorial at Runnymede.

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(15) Vacationing with Uncle Bobby in Sun Valley, Idaho, John rubbed noses with a Samoyed pup.

(16) A month later, he was sledding down the slopes with his mom and sister, Caroline, in Gstaad, the Swiss ski resort.

(17) “Behave yourself, young man.” During a King Kamehameha Day visit to Honolulu’s Iolani Palace, a stern Jackie warned John to calm down—or else.

(18) A stunned Jackie attended RFK’s June 7, 1968, funeral at New York’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral with John and Caroline. That fall she shocked the world by marrying Aristotle Onassis.

(19) After lunch at one of her favorite restaurants, Trader Vic’s, Jackie, John, and Ari headed home to 1040 Fifth Avenue.

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(21) Whether it was stopping at the refreshment tent between riding events in New Jersey (previous), pausing to chat while vacationing in Capri (above), or fussing with John’s collar as they strode toward Ari’s yacht Christina in Greece (next), Jackie took John “everywhere,” George Plimpton said. “Unlike a lot of boys, he wasn’t embarrassed to be with her. John was always very proud of her.”

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(23) After a tennis lesson like this one in 1974, John was mugged in Central Park. Jackie was “pleased” that it happened. “I want him to experience life,” she said.

(24) The next year, John supported his mother as the Onassis women forced her into the background at Ari’s funeral.

(25) “John’s a good boy,” Jackie said, “but he’s always getting himself in a jam.” He poked fun at himself in this photo that ran in the Andover yearbook in 1979, the year he graduated.

(26) That same year, he joined Caroline and a beaming Jackie at yet another black-tie affair in New York.

(27) John struggled throughout his academic career with undiagnosed ADD and dyslexia, so Jackie was justifiably overjoyed when he graduated from Brown University in 1983.

(28) John had just begun his six-year affair with actress Christina Haag when they attended a Metropolitan Museum gala in 1985.

(29) Not long after, Jackie and John met the Reagans at a reception to benefit the Kennedy Library, held at Ted Kennedy’s McLean, Virginia, home.

(30) A poised and confident speaker, John electrified the 1988 Democratic National Convention in Atlanta when he introduced his uncle Teddy.

(31) In 1991, John, having by then passed the New York State bar exam on his third try, showed up at his cousin Willie Smith’s rape trial to provide moral support—in direct defiance of Jackie.

(32) John and his then-love Daryl Hannah caused a near riot when they arrived for the wedding of Edward Kennedy Jr. in Rhode Island.

(33) Bill Clinton was sixteen when he famously shook hands with John’s father. In 1993 he joined Jackie and John on the dais during rededication ceremonies at the Kennedy Library.

(34) Although he was still very much involved with Daryl Hannah, John was photographed watching the New York City Marathon in November 1993 with “mystery woman” Carolyn Bessette.

(35) John helped his sister make her way through the mob of reporters and onlookers who gathered outside Jackie’s apartment after her death.

(36) The next day at her funeral in New York, Jackie’s “two miracles” clung to each other, their faces etched with grief.

(37) “Ladies and Gentlemen, meet George.” Going ahead with his plans for the first “People magazine of politics,” despite the odds and his late mother’s skepticism, John unveiled George magazine on September 7, 1995.

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(41) Action Man. Like his athletic mother, John was, in one friend’s words, “congenitally incapable of standing still.” When he wasn’t Rollerblading, biking, or tossing a Frisbee in Central Park, he was kayaking, swimming, or running on the beach in Hyannis Port.

(42) Backed up by his dog Friday, John had a rare confrontation with the paparazzi in late 1996.

(43) Despite problems in their marriage, John and Carolyn “couldn’t take their hands off each other,” said friend James Rubin. They unabashedly proved Rubin’s point on the streets of Lower Manhattan (above) and at a charity event in Manhattan (next).

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